Concrete is essentially a hard, porous sponge that is subject to cracking at many stages of its life, making it easy for water to seep in through pores, micro cracks and capillary tracts. The water can cause a wide range of problems that damage the concrete or the reinforcing steel. This can dramatically affect the strength, durability and lifespan of concrete.

PENETRON products are especially formulated to produce the permeability-reducing crystals or catalyze unreacted concrete components that result in a crystalline lattice that lowers concrete porosity.

A general example of the PENETRON System at work:

The PENETRON chemicals penetrate into the cracks, micro-cracks and capillary tracts of the concrete through osmosis, Brownian movement and dry particle reactions.

The PENETRON active ingredients react with concrete minerals to form insoluble crystals, which fill out cracks, pores and voids up to a width of 400 microns. This crystalline growth takes place deep inside the concrete structure up to nearly 1 meter from the point of application.

Water molecules (and a wide range of chemicals) now can no longer pass through the concrete. However, air can still pass, allowing the concrete to breathe. This avoids the build-up of vapor pressure.

In the absence of further moisture, the PENETRON components lie dormant. Should moisture recur at any time, the sealing process resumes automatically and advances deeper into the concrete.

Once activated, the coarse-grained elongated crystals and fine-grained needle-like crystals can be seen lining a crack. These crystals will completely fill up the crack, which waterproofs the concrete and lowers permeability.

The same crack (taken by BEI) is being sealed by the formation of the PENETRON crystals.

A close-up shot clearly showing the elongated crystals and fine needle-like crystals in the crack.

A 10,000x magnification showing the development of permeability-reducing crystals.